Marcus Effect
by Vladimir Obama
Summary: Marcus Fenix and another member of Delta Squad got transported to Omega after the end of Gears of War 3.
1. Chapter 1

Island of Azura, Sera. 16 A.E.

As Marcus sat at the beach with Anya, he tried to be at peace. But seeing the demise of his bestfriend and his father in front of him so that he can live, he only felt guilt and sadness.

"Anya, I want to be alone.", he said.

Anya understood. She got up walked back to the celebrating Gears. Marcus, still mourning, decided to go to the Imulsion Countermeasure Weapon, at the spot where his father died. He walked up the tower and found Baird tinkering with the device.

"Hey, Baird. What the hell are you doing here? Shouldn't you be back with the rest of the COGs to celebrate?". "Hey, a scientist as brilliant as me celebrates by studying this thing. I want to know how it works.", Baird replied.

"What are you doing here anyway?", said Baird.

Marcus sighed and just looked at his father's ashes on the ground. "Just wanted to say goodbye to him. Never said goodbye to him since E-day". Baird thought it would be best to leave Marcus and carried on with his tinkering. He pressed a button and a door opened leading inside the device. Being a brilliant scientist that he is, Baird did not hesitate to enter. Inside, he found a computer with a video file and he decided to watch it.

(As you watch this, you are either Human or Locust. Whatever you are, it does not matter. The lambent and immulsion is killing this planet. This device that I created may be the only hope to save your species by destroying the lambent and the imulsion or to locate you to another place in case the destruction of the lambent and imulsion fails.) then the video stopped playing.

Baird just stood there thinking, 'What does he mean by 'Locate'?'. He pondered for a long time and got startled when Marcus approached holding his father's ashes in his bandana. "Baird, what the fuck are you doing? I thought you were speaking with someone", he said.

"Yes, Marcus. I am speaking with someone. His name is Mr. Invisible. Bullshit aside, I found a video log of your father. He said something about this device being able to locate us in case this thing fails to destroy the glowies. You know, Marcus. I'm wondering how this thing is still operational since, you know, we destroyed all the imulsion?". Baird then tried to find the power source and found that there's still imulsion inside powering the machine. He opened up the container and there was an alarm.

"ALERT. ALERT. Imulsion Detected."

The entrance of the machine shut tight and began rumbling. "What the fuck did you do, Baird!?", Marcus yelled. Baird just stayed silent for he knew that he made a mistake and what was going to happen. As everything around them started to glow blue, Marcus took and revved up Baird's chainsaw-bayonet and tried to cut the entrance open.

The Gears who were celebrating saw a light shot out into the sky.

Omega 2181

Tarkus, one of Aria T'loak's lieutenants, was a very bored turian guarding a large cargo of weapons with his squad. Marlak, his batarian right-hand, was pestering him about taking some of the guns so they can sell it themselves for profit. "If you want to piss off Aria, do it yourself. She hates traitors more than the Purgatorium at the Citadel.", Tarkus told Marlak.

Tarkus knew that if he did what Marlak wanted, only he would suffer Aria's wrath with Marlak taking his place as the team's captain. They were going to meet the Blood Pack and sell the weapons for Aria. He and his team saw the Blood Pack approaching and cautiously brought the cargo to them. "These guns better be worth the credit.", warned Gnar, a Krogan Warlord and the Blood Pack's leader.

Tarkus opened up the container and took out a claymore shotgun and an executioner pistol then showed it to Gnar. "These are the guns that you ordered along with 30 revenants, 120 scimitars and 180 vindicators along with 50 Graal Spike Throwers.", Tarkus explained.

Gnar and his Krogan companions examined the weapons (particularly the shotguns) until they were satisfied. "Good. These weapons pack a hell of a punch especially the scimitars for my Krogan mercs.", Gnar told Tarkus. "You can go the hell away now", he added. "What about your payment?", Tarkus said, he knew what was about to happen so he signalled his team to ready their weapons. Gnar laughed and shot Tarkus with the claymore he was holding. The claymore's pellets immediately destroyed Tarkus's shields.

Tarkus, a veteran of the Terminus Systems, quickly jumped behind the cargo crater's cover and threw a homing grenade at Gnar. Gnar went stumbled from the explosion and roared for his Krogan and Vorcha to engage Tarkus's men. Tarkus's team consisting 11 turians and 9 batarians were outnumbered and are no match to the vorcha, krogan and varrens of the Blood Pack. As the battle raged with the turians overheating/sabotaging their enemies' new weapons to delay them and hope for backup to arrive, an explosion of blue engulfed the area.

Marcus still trying to saw his way out of the device found himself and Baird in a weird place in front of bird-like beings and humanoid beings with four eyes in a gun fight against small grubs and creatures that looked like small brumaks. "Well, shit." He heard Baird say as both of them took cover. "Where are we? And more importantly, what the hell are those things?", Marcus asked Baird. "I don't know, but they dont look like grubs to me except for those things that look like tickers with legs", he replied.

One of those brumak things saw them and charged towards them, raising his weapon to fire. Marcus hit the creature's gun aside with his gnasher shotgun before the shot went off and then he fired at the creature's face. He was surprised when a blue spark went off and the brumak was unharmed. He fired again and the same thing happened. The brumak bellowed a laughter and then tried to bull rush Marcus. Marcus, used to the charging techniques of the grubs, stood his ground and they were both locked in place: Marcus engaged the brumak in a battle of strength.

Tarkus was surprised when he saw that a human can match the strength of a krogan and that he won't budge even though he received a krogan charge. He was even more surprised when the human then heaved and lifted the krogan off his feet and threw him in front of his blonde friend who proceeded to split the krogan's head using a chainsaw on a gun. Both of them then charge towards the bloodpack with the black-haired human's shotgun ripping apart the vorchas and krogans (whose shields were overloaded by the turians), while the blonde one was firing his automatic weapon to kill the unshielded vorchas. The bullets of the weird assault rifle riddled the vorchas, tearing it limb from limb. He saw both of the humans' brutality and ferocity as they both destroyed the remaining vorchas with their fists. The vorcha's weapons were non-functional as they are overheated from the turians' sabotage. They tried to defend themselves using their speed and their omni-blade claws, but they were either gunned down or get their heads crushed by massive fists. As the fight went on, only the shielded krogans remained and they were slaughtering Tarkus's men.

All the batarians are dead and only 4 turians including Tarkus were alive thanks to Turian discipline and military training. They all focused fire on one of the three Krogans, but it killed another turian before it went down. Gnar blasted and destroyed the turians' cover using a carnage sending the turians flying and wounded. Gnar, slowly walked toward Tarkus to finish him of with the executioner pistol when he heard a roar of an engine and looked behind to see his remaining krogan merc get split by a chainsaw. He fired aimed his pistol at the human's unarmored arm and then fired. The power of his pistol blew off the arm, and with a cry, the human went down.

Marcus saw what happened to Baird and he tried to unload all of his shotgun's remaining bullets on the, what it looked like, leader brumak's face, but like earlier, it had the same effect: the bullets hitting the brumak causing blue sparks and the brumak unharmed. His shotgun was now empty and he pulled out his boltok pistol and fired at the advancing brumak, but with the same ineffectiveness. The brumak stopped, raised its weapon and was about to fire when one of the bird-like creature pointed his glowing arm/talon sending a bolt of electrity, stunning the brumak. Marcus saw his chance and tackled the stunned brumak and snatching his weapon away from him. Marcus knew how to operate the gun as he saw how the brumak used it earlier. He pointed the claymore at the brumak's right arm and fired. The brumak roared in pain. Marcus wanted to punch the brumak to death, but he remembered that Baird was bleeding severely so he just blew of the brumak's head off.

He then jogged to Baird to see if he was still okay. Baird couldn't say anything. He just stared at the ceiling as he was in a state of shock and he was losing consciousness and his life. "At least you stopped talking now", Marcus joked as he applied his father's ashes on Baird's arm to try and stop the bleeding. He heard someone approaching so he looked behind and saw the man-bird holding its hands... err.. talons up. The man-bird pointed at Baird and made a gesture that made a "Me help him" impression to Marcus.

Marcus lowered his new gun and let the man-bird help Baird. The man-bird applied some kind of gel on Baird's bleeding, armless right shoulder and the wound slowly, but visibly started to mend itself. Marcus sighed in relief knowing that his friend will be fine, but still wondered why are they here. He looked at the man-bird and said, "I don't know if you can understand me, but thank you for helping my friend." Of course, Marcus spoke english so it was translated by Tarkus's translator.

Tarkus replied, "Of course I understand you, human. I should also thank you for assisting us with these Blood Packs". Marcus, not having a translator, had no idea what the man-bird said. He shook his head and said, "I don't understand you." Tarkus realized what the problem was and took an omni-tool from the corpse of a fallen comrade and handed it to Marcus. The human only gave him a confused look so Tarkus showed him how to put on the omni-tool. "Do you understand me now?", Tarkus asked. Marcus having the translator installed was surprised that he can understand now the man-bird. "Yes, I can. I am Sgt. Marcus Fenix. Who and what are you?". Tarkus was unsure of how to respond to that question because a human is asking what a turian was in Omega, but he just played along. "My name is Tarkus Ironus, and I am a turian."

"A 'turian'?", Marcus replied. "Whatever. Thank you for helping me with that ugly fuck a while ago. I want to ask some more questions like "where the fuck are we", but I have to take care of my friend here", Marcus said as he looked back to Baird, still unconscious. "He will be fine for now, but I think he may have lost a lot of blood. We have to wait for my backup to pick us up and our cargo and I will have him taken care of as a thank you for helping us kill those Blood Pack bastards and saving me from Aria's punishment. So, Marcus, is it? Our names are quite similar. You can ask me questions while we wait for my friends." Tarkus said, trying to be friendly. They had a chat for 15 minutes with Tarkus answering Marcus's questions and then shuttles arrived. "Our ride is here. I will talk to you again later. For now, we should go back to Afterlife and report to my boss." Tarkus said.

When they arrived at Afterlife, Marcus was surprised that Tarkus was not lying about different species. He even saw other humans. "You, human. Follow me." ordered a Batarian. "Where is Baird?", Marcus asked. "Your friend is fine. He's in a clinic getting taken care of. For now, follow me." Marcus followed the batarian and they entered a bar filled with those blue chicks. They climbed up a terrace and Marcus saw Tarkus (at least it looked like Tarkus) talking to a blue chick with tatoos on her face.

Tarkus made way and the blue chick gestured for Marcus to sit on the sofa. After Marcus sat down, the blue chick asked, "So, you're the one that Tarkus is telling me about. I saw on his omni-tool footage how you brutalized those Blood Packs. Couldn't have done it better myself", she laughed. "And you also said that you were from a planet named "Sera", there's no planet in the Terminus nor Citadel Space with such a name." She explained. "Who are you?", Marcus asked. "I am Aria and in this place, I am the law.", she said with a voice full of authority. "I am impressed with your efficiency in eliminating those Blood Packs without having any armor or shields. And chainsaw on rifles? That's something you don't see every century."

"Yeah. And I just fought a horde of grubs and glowies a few minutes before that", he replied, sternly.

"Really, now? And what are these "grubs" and "glowies"? asked Aria. Marcus, tired of explaining things, tired of acting friendly to these weird people, and just literally tired from all the fighting said, "Look, Princess. I just ended a war a few minutes ago and I almost lost my friend when I arrived here. I want to see if he's okay, and to also get some rest." Aria laughed. "My, my. I will let that insolence pass this time since you saved me millions of credits from Gnar and his Blood Pack. Tarkus, bring this man to his friend and then one of our apartments so he can rest. I want him to report back to me once he's rested." Tarkus led Marcus out of afterlife and ordered one of his human subordinates to take Marcus to Baird.

When they reached the crowded clinic, Marcus tried his best to ignore the "aliens" staring at him and walked straight to Baird's room. "Hey, Marcus. I guess I fucked up, huh?", Said Baird whose missing an arm. "Messing with the Doctor's device and sending us to this place filled with grub-looking aliens".

"So, you already know. I guess they gave you this "codex" too?, Marcus asked. "Yes. And judging based on the information here, if it's true, the Doctor's device either sent us to a faraway place, far away from Sera, or killed us both and we are now in heaven or hell", he said in a low tone.

"What the fuck are you talking about? There are humans here. Maybe it sent us on one of the other planets near Sera.", Marcus said. "Yeah. We're sent on another planet on Sera's system with aliens and humans who could have contacted us and helped us against the grubs." Baird replied in a sarcastic tone.

"I read the codex and asked the doctors if they know what and where "Sera" is. None of them know what Sera is, not even the humans, unless they're lying. They said that there's no human planet by the name of "Sera".

"Yep. You fucked up. By the way, how are you feeling?", Marcus said. "Still a bit dizzy, and it's weird not having a right arm. I always wondered what the grubs felt when I saw theirs off. The doctors said someone paid them to replace my arm with a prosthetic one. Their technology here is amazing. Prosthetic body parts, the "medi-gel", these "omni-tools", and those drones that are much more advanced than J.A.C.K. Once I get out of here, I'm going to study their technology. It might help those dumbasses when we get back to Sera- if we get back to Sera..", Baird said excitedly. The door suddenly slid open and entered a frog alien which the codex referred to as a "Salarian". "Hello Doctor Mordin." Baird groaned. "Want to take another stool sample?", he added.

"Sorry to interrupt. Patient needs rest. Needs lots of it to let the new blood flow in his body. Also, need to study him. Physique similar to human, but muscle mass, bone thickness and heart size twice the size of humans of your height. Intriguing." The Salarian said very quickly.

"Yeah. You should get your little boy's rest and we will figure out the rest of this fuckery later. I'll be back tomorrow." Marcus said not wanting to here both Baird's and the doctor's blabbering. He left the clinic and followed Chuck, one of Tarkus's men, to an apartment. Upon entering, Marcus whistled because the apartment looked as luxurious as the hotel from Azura. "Wow. That Aria chick takes care of her men like a mother." he told Chuck.

"Nah. Most of us, the grunts, stay at the shit-hole of a barracks. Aria's apartments are for the team captains and her lieutenants.", Chuck explained. Marcus realized what he was saying and swiftly replied "Wait, I'm not one of Aria's men. Why did you lead me here?".

"Just following orders.", Chuck said. "Maybe Aria likes you since you're the biggest and buffest human I've ever seen. I saw on the video how you overpowered those Krogans. I wish I could've been there to see it in person." he continued and then left Marcus. The leader of Delta Squad looked around checked out the apartment and was very impressed on how luxurious it was. The beds, the lighting, the food, the things that Cole blabbered to them whenever he and Baird bickered about which thrashball team was the best. Marcus took off his gauntlets and fell asleep on the bed.

New to fanfiction. Really open to feedback. thanks.


	2. Chapter 2

Omega, Mordin's Clinic.

Baird woke up due to Mordin's constant blabbering while examining him. "Doc, can you please turn it down? I'm trying to res- What the hell!?", Baird cried when he saw and felt the prosthetic arm attached to his shoulder. "Patient quickly woke up. Used enough anesthesia to make a human sleep for a day. Immune system intriguing." Doctor Mordin said, ignoring Baird's question. "prosthetic arm installed perfectly. Your Body did not react to foreign material." He continued. "So"- Baird said while he stood up - "what did you do to me while I was asleep?". "Connected prosthetic arm to your shoulder, also connected the wires to nerves. prosthetic arm very small compared to organic counterpart even though that's the biggest we have." Mordin replied. "Also, new arm not used for fighting. Not as strong as previous arm, might not be accurate as well. Arm weight capacity is 100 Kilograms. Might be able to go higher, but may strain, crack and break in doing so. Chemicals powering prosthetic arm poisonous when introduced to Humans, Asari, Turians, Batarian, Salarians, and Hanar. Krogan and Vorcha can easily resist poison in moderate amounts." Mordin finished. "Okay, Doc. I didn't catch the last sentences, but it doesn't matter. By the way, when you said "powering prosthetic arm", what is it that you used for power?", Baird asked. "High-end omni-tool battery. Will last as long as an asari. Prosthetic arm also high-end. Gladly paid for by your turian friend." Mordin said. "Okay, Doc. Thanks for the information. Can I test my new arm?", Baird asked. "Oh, yes. But need to run some more tests before releasing you. Request of Aria herself."

Baird lay down again while reading the codex and the technology these people or aliens' technology. He was having a nerdgasm seeing all the advanced technology that he can study.

Meanwhile...

Afterlife, Omega.

Aria sat on her lounge rewatching the gunfight between the Blood Pack and her men. She ordered her men to give her all the video recordings of the fight from their and the Blood Pack's omni-tools. It intrigued her that the two humans had laid waste to the Blood Pack's leader, veteran krogans and a lot of vorcha. "It's just like the Skyllian Blitz except these humans have no shields and are surrounded by krogan and vorcha instead of humans and batarian pirates." She thought. The two humans were using primitive-looking guns and the blonde one's armor, even without shields, shrugged off gunfire. She watched as Baird got hit point-blank in the chest with a scimitar, only to briefly recoil from the impact. It also interested her that Marcus not only stopped a krogan charge using only his strength, but also lifted and threw the krogan away without the help of biotics nor cybernetics.

"Get me Tarkus." She ordered one of her men.

After a few minutes, Tarkus was already there.

"So, you managed to save our merchandise. I really don't like it when we lose men. But since you managed to save me millions of credits, brutalized the Blood Pack as a warning to would be double-crossers, and saved our face, I will assign you to lead the next raid on the Traverse." She told Tarkus.

Tarkus, glad to be on Aria's good side, replied, "Of course. I will try my best to acquire as much goods as possible."

"Yes, you should. After all, you will get 15% of the profit. That is if the profit exceeds 300 million credits. Reliable men get rewarded. Now, bring me those two humans and get Alexia as well. I might need someone to meld with them." She ordered.

Tarkus's mandibles twitched with excitement and quickly replied, "At once."

Marcus woke up when he heard a knock from the door.

"Rise and shine, Sergeant. Chuck here said that we should eat and report to this Aria." He heard Baird's voice calling outside his room.

Marcus, still lying down, stared at the ceiling. He never had a good sleep like this for a long time. The last time he had a good sleep was after the Pendulum Wars a few days before Emergence Day.

"Hey, Marcus. You up yet? Are you dead?", Baird asked loudly, obviously trying to annoy him.

"Yes, Mom. I'm up." Marcus said as he got out the room. He saw Baird and Chuck eating some bacon and chicken.

"Eat up, Sarge. We never had something this good to eat in, like, forever. I wish Carmine was here. That guy always craves for bacon." Baird handed him a plate full of juicy bacon.

The three ate silently... or rather Marcus and Chuck did while Baird blabbered about how fascinating this place's technology was. Chuck filled them in on some useful information. Saying that some people worked as mercenaries for Aria, the Pirate Queen of Omega.

"Wait. So, this Aria is the owner of this place?" Baird asked.

"Pretty much. She orders some of the raids for weapons, technology and raw materials being shipped. She doesn't order all of the raids though. Some war bands, gangs and slavers conduct raids of their own. She also hates slavers." Chuck told them.

"Slavers?", both Marcus and Baird asked, surprised.

"Yeah. Most gangs raid only for weapons and raw materials to sell, but Batarians mostly raid for slaves. Apparently, slavery is a big part of their cultural heritage or something like that. Anyway, we should go. Aria is expecting us." Chuck said.

When the three of them arrived in a small room behind Afterlife, Aria was waiting there with Tarkus and another asari. Marcus and Baird walked towards Aria only to be stopped by four armed batarians.

"Let them through. Leave us." Aria ordered the batarians.

The batarians complied went outside.

"Alexia, see if there are bugs in this place. You can't be too careful." Said Tarkus, trying to show his competency to Aria.

The other asari scanned the room with her omni-tool while the other four waited.

"A pleasure to see you again, Marcus. I also see that your friend has that prosthetic arm I ordered for him." Greeted Tarkus.

"Oh. So, you're the turian the Doctor mentioned? Thanks for the, uhh, new arm." Baird said.

"No problem. Consider that as my "thank you" for helping us with the Blood Pack." he said.

"The room is clear. No bugs detected." suddenly Alexia said.

"Good." Said Aria. "Now, go meld with him".

"You mean the mind reading"? Baird asked. "I read about that on the codex, but it didnt say how it was conducted."

"You just put your head near hers and wait until she shouts "embrace eternity", said Tarkus, knowing how the process works.

"Okay, whatever. Let's do it", Baird said.

"No." Aria suddenly said. "I want you to do it", she said looking at Marcus.

"And if I don't want to?", Marcus challenged.

"Then we'll see which of you two will live longer when I throw you out of the airlock", Aria said.

"It takes more than a stupid magic trick to scare me", said Marcus, placing his hand on his boltok pistol.

Aria laughed and said, "You really want to do that? I can squish you like a bug if I want to."

Marcus knew that without those so called "shields", she can kill him with her biotics. Chuck told them about how Aria was one of the most feared figures of the Terminus Systems. He also knew that even though he manages to kill her, Afterlife was just outside, along with hundreds of her men.

"Now, are you going to meld with her or do you want to be thrown out the airlock?", she now said in a serious tone.

"Fine, whatever. Let's just get this over with." Marcus said, seeing he has no other choice.

"Good. I am the law here. You're lucky I am in a no killing mood today." She said. "Now, go on with the melding."

"All right, Marcus, is it? You just need to relax and open your mind. My mind will meld with yours and I will see and feel your thoughts, do you understand?". Alexia told him.

"Let's get this over with. I haven't got all morning", Marcus said. Not sure if it was really morning.

"Embrace Eternity!", Alexia said as their consciousness joined.

Alexia travelled to Marcus's thoughts she tried to see his memories piece by piece. She saw the destruction caused by the Pendulum Wars, the Locust Horde and more importantly, the beam of energy that came down from the sky leveling entire cities. She saw and felt Marcus's anger when one by one, his friends and squadmates died in the war. Alexia then saw horrors of the lambent. Infecting both locust and humans. She saw the giant riftworm, many times bigger than thresher maws and how Delta Squad killed it from the inside. She felt Marcus's grief when he saw his friend and father die in front of him. She tried to tolerate the horrors of the wars that this man fought, but she had enough. She had to get out of his thoughts.

"Uhh. How long does this melding last?", Baird asked Tarkus.

"It varies from each individual. The process takes quite some time and- yeah, They're done.", Tarkus said. Seeing Alexia walk away from Marcus.

"You... you did all of those?", She asked him.

Marcus didn't say anything, but he nodded.

"Tarkus, take these men outside and wait for us", ordered Aria.

Tarkus lead Marcus and Baird outside, sighed and said, "Never saw someone challenge Aria like that. In fact, I never saw nor heard of anyone who dared challenge her without backup."

"Not just used to being told what to do by non-humans, that's all." Marcus replied.

"Marcus, how did that melding go?", Baird asked.

"It sucked. She read some of my memories during the war and that's okay with me. But she saw what happened to Dom and Dad. Also saw that again too. Felt like I was there again, reliving it. It was fucking terrific, Baird", He said sarcastically.

"I'm sorry I asked. Anyway, What do you think we should do now? We're far away from Sera, no means of finding and traveling there. Do you have any idea what we can do?", Baird asked.

"I really have no idea. You're the "brilliant man of science", I'm the one who should be asking you.", Marcus told him.

There was a suddent silence as both of them tried to think of their situation, when Alexia suddenly came out of the room and asked that both of them go talk with Aria. Without their guns, of course.

"Alexia melded with me to transfer your memories. So, you were telling the truth. You really came from an uncharted world." she said, her voice stern.

"Yeah. And if you give us a ride back their, we'll all live happily ever after." Said Marcus.

"You ask a favor from me, and what will I get in return?", Aria asked.

"Uhh. A big, heart-warming "thank you?", said Baird.

Aria laughed. "I'll cut to the chase. You two came from an uncharted planet with no star charts, and even if you do have star charts, you can't go there because there might be no mass relay to send you there. And even if there's a mass relay near your system, you can bet that the batarians will raid your ruined planet and take your people as slaves."

"Well, shit." was all that Marcus can say.

"You can go ask the Systems Alliance to assist you, but I doubt it. They will just incarcerate you and interrogate both of you." Aria added.

"That's just great. What do we do now?", Baird, the pessimist, asked in a defeated voice.

"You two are skilled fighters, especially you, Marcus." Aria said. "I'll hire you as grunts, if you want, seeing that you're grunts in your planets's war." she continued.

"Sorry, Queeny. We don't take stuff from innocent people. Even in the war, we traded with the strandeds for supplies even though we can just kill or incapacitate them." Marcus retorted.

"Very well. Both of you have nothing except for those omni-tools Tarkus gave you and your out-dated weapons. You know nothing of the technology here, no job to get besides being custodians or hired muscle", Aria told them.

"Oh, we'll make a lot of money once we get out of here." Baird said, smiling. "I read your technologies on the codex. There is something I have that we can easily sell for millions, billions or even a trillion credits if someone is desperate enough." he added.

"Really, now? And what would that be? Sell those armour on your back"? Aria mocked him.

"Oh, much better than that. You see, I have and know the schematics of the hammer of dawn." Replied Baird.

The smile was wiped clean off of Aria's face. She knew that if the Union, Hierarchy, Hegemony or the Asari Republics get a hold of that weapon, the balance of power of the galaxy will be disturbed. If that happens a war will be inevitable especially if the Hierarchy gets a hold of that energy weapon. That statement of Baird completely caught her off guard that she immediately called the batarians to escort them out. Aria doesn't want anyone seeing her showing a sign of weakness.

"Good going, Baird. We can easily sell the hammer's technology for credits. We can buy a ship and search for Sera with that money." Marcus told him.

"Yeah... no. I just bluffed. I don't have the schematics of that. Even if I have it, there's no imulsion to power it up. I just wanted to shut that bitch up." Baird told him.

"Well, good going anyway. Her voice is almost as annoying as yours." Said Marcus.

"Well, what are we gonna do now? We need to get some credits. We can go try and be security guards or bouncers. I'm not going to be a pirate nor will I be a custodian to clean this shit hole." Baird said. "I don't even know if we can make it as guards since our guns don't have much ammo left, we don't even have shields. We can sell our omni-tools because they're quite expensive as Dr. Mordin told me. But I don't think it will keep us afloat for long". He added.

"You're always the pessimist, aren't you?", Marcus said.

And then, their omni-tools lit up. They got a message from Tarkus saying they should meet outside of Afterlife. Both of them walked towards the exit and Marcus saw Aria standing on the terrace of her lounge, staring down at them. Marcus stared back as he walked, but bumped into an old man wearing white-yellow armor and a huge pauldron on his right shoulder.

"Watch it, goddamn blokes." Said the old man with an accent similar to Sam's.

Marcus ignored him and headed out Afterlife to see Tarkus waiting for them with what seemingly looked like a crate.

"Hey, Tarkus. Got your message. Aria told us off. I hate her." Baird joked.

"Well, that's unfortunate. She sent me here to give the contents of this crate to you." Said Tarkus. He motioned his men to open the crate and showed them it contained shield emitters, a couple of hard-suits and armor.

"Well, I guess I like Aria now." Said Baird as he examined the shield emitters.

"What's the catch? She kicked us out of her club and now she wants us to have these?", Marcus said.

"I have no idea. She also wanted me to give you 10,000 credits each. And to tell you Baird to "shut the hell up". Tarkus said.

"That's it? No "we owe her a favor" thing?" Baird asked.

"Heh. The things in the crate, she gave as equipment for you. The 20,000 credits... Well, it's a down payment." Tarkus said.

"Down payment? We told her we don't want to be pirates. Tell her thanks, but no thanks." Baird stated.

"Don't get excited, now. She wants you to capture and bring to her a certain human named Brent. There's a bonus if you bring him alive." Tarkus told them.

"And why are we going to do that? We just got here and now we're going to cause trouble?", Baird said.

"One, you have a down payment of 10,000 credits each. That's a year's work for a common grunt. Two, you will get another 10,000 each for killing him and. There's, also a bonus 5,000 each if you bring him alive." Said Tarkus.

"Why does Aria want this Brent guy? He broke her heart or something?" Baird asked.

"He has another bar rivaling and taking Afterlife's patrons. He's also doing secret deals with the other gangs behind Aria's back, according to our intel. Aria doesn't want to use her men since we need all the man power we have for the raid." Said Tarkus.

"That's it? He's just a business competitor and Aria suddenly hires us to get him?" Baird, again, asked.

"Yes. No one crosses Aria. Now, enough questions. His club is located at the other side of this asteroid. He is going to have a deal with the Blue Suns later. Aria wants us to get there, kill thosethat will get in our way, and get Brent." Tarkus said.

"Last question. You said "us". So that means you're coming, right?" Baird asked trying to annoy Tarkus.

"Yes. Aria wants me to assist you guys since you're "new" to this place. Whatever that means. Do you accept or not?" He asked impatiently.

"What do you think, Marcus? You're awfully quiet there." Baird turned to Marcus.

"I say we go for it. Give me that shield emitter. We need money if we're going to stay here for a while." Marcus answered him.

"You're not going to wear that armor, Marcus?", Tarkus asked.

"No. Not my type." Marcus replied.

"Very well. Follow me." Tarkus said.

They got on a flying vehicle and went for Brent's bar, The Rift. Baird talked nonstop about how the car was hovering without rotor propulsion, much to Tarkus and the pilot's annoyance.

"You'll get used to it. If you're unlucky enough to be near him for a long time." Marcus told Tarkus.

They arrived at The Rift and entered the club. Just like Aftierlife, the bar was filled with asari dancers and some humans as well. Most patrons were humans clad in armor and had weapons, although there were also batarians and turians.

"So, are these the Blue Suns?", Baird asked Tarkus.

"Yes. They're all grunts. Some are engineers though", Tarkus replied.

The three, especially the two big humans, quickly got the attention of the mercenaries.

"I'll go ahead and look for Brent. You two stay here, you attract too much attention." ordered Tarkus, receiving a "Yes, Mom." reply from the two COG soldiers.

After a while, gunshots suddenly rang from the VIP room at the back of the club. The people at the club looked to the direction where the gunshot had come from. They saw a man in a fancy-looking suit lead two armored humans out of the VIP room, dragging a body of a turian.

"Tarkus." Grumbled Marcus.

"Well, there goes our only friend in this place. If you don't consider Chuck as a friend that is." Baird whispered to him.

The man in the suit, who Marcus presumed as Brent, whispered something to one of his men. The man then said something on his coms and then all of the eyes were suddenly on Marcus and Baird.

"My, my. I guess this turian is your friend, is he not?" asked Brent, turning towards the two.

"No. We're just here to sell biscuits, mister." Baird replied imitating a little girl's voice.

"Who sent you?" Brent asked.

"Why don't you ask that turian you just killed?" Marcus blurted out, suddenly firing his boltok at Brent's face.

The force of the boltok's first bullet quickly downed the civilian class shield of Brent allowing the succeeding bullet to hit him between the eyes. Brent's head suddenly exploded and the club instantly turned into a warzone.

"Heh. I guess these shit heads never heard of the words "take cover or die", Baird told Marcus as he popped the heads of some mercs with his lancer.

"These bastards aren't even using shields. Maybe they're the cannon fodder. These guys are nothing compared to those Krogans we that we fought when we got here. Those guys have shields that rendered my gnasher almost useless." Marcus said.

As the two COG soldiers returned fire from their cover, killing the mercs one by one. As the last of the mercs died, There was a sudden explosion from the VIP room.

"Great. Baird, throw some smokes. We're gonna get out of here." Marcus ordered.

"I don't think we can get out." Baird said pointing at the YMIR mech emerging from the smoke, opening fire.

"Ah, shit. They have silverbacks too?". Marcus growled as they took cover.

"Maybe, I don't know." Baird replied.

"The try to distract the pilot. I'll flank him from behind and break his neck." Marcus said, moving to the side.

Baird focused fire on the head of the mech while Marcus continued moving to the side to flank the pilot.  
Marcus reached the back of the mech and was surprised that there was no pilot nor a visible compartment in the mech.

"Doesn't make much difference." Marcus said as he revved up his chainsaw and slammed it onto the back of the mech.

The chainsaw cut its way onto the mech, who turned towards Marcus. It fired its rocket to Marcus who dodged it and rolled back to cover.

"Baird, focus fire on the hole that I made. I'll be the bait this time." Marcus said over the radio.

Baird open fired, slowly walking towards the mech while Marcus fired from the mech's front using his lancer.

The sudden faint glow of blue indicated Baird that the mech's shields were down so he sprinted towards it and planted a frag on the hole that Marcus made. The grenade exploded, tearing off the mech's lower body. Marcus then casually walked towards it, pumping his gnasher and fired on the mech's head. The mech's head got torn off, leaving its body motionless.

"That's that. Well, I guess we should get back to Queeny." Marcus said. "Better get out of here before more of those Blue Suns arrive - What are you doing!?", he asked Baird who was checking the corpses.

"Just getting their guns and credits left on their omni-tools."

"Baird, we have to get out of here before their backup arrives. Didn't you hear me?".

"I heard you. Come on, let's go."  
-

To the guy that said the Gears' weapons, particularly the gnasher, were made for boomers and stuff. You're right. It's made for destroying armor. But from what I understand, Barriers in ME are good against high damage, but slow firing weapons; and are weak against low damage, but high fire rate weapons like sub machine guns.


End file.
